Thursday, January 22, 2015

Guys, the words have been flowing. Like, on a daily basis. And the story is actually going somewhere. It's a really good feeling to be back at it again. It's frustrating when the words are there, but the story is kind of crap. And even though almost every first draft is crap, this one is actually crap with potential. I'm super excited about it.

The best part is that I've managed to keep up with writing and continue about my daily life. I think I finally found the balance. I'm not 100% sure how I did it, though. I wrote in my last post about the cleaning challenge I've been participating in. I think that has helped me to focus on the house and keeping it clean. Plus the kids have not been neglected. AND I still manage to find time to crochet too. Now all I have to do is find someone who will pay me to write and I will have The Farmer off my back about finding a job. I've been tossing around the idea of adding crocheted items to my Etsy shop. But crochet is so big right now, I'm afraid I wouldn't sell anything anyway. Much like my vintage stuff that's out there now. But I'm still playing with the idea, so we'll see what happens.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

It's been almost a year since I lost my job. That's actually kind of hard to believe when I see it spelled out like that. But here we are. One of the things I told myself back then was that my house was going to be super clean. All the time. Yeah. Right.

For a while, I've been part of a Facebook group run by the website A Bowl Full of Lemons. Don't ask me how I found it, but it's got all kinds of organizing tips and printables to totally keep your life in order. Right now, there is a 14 week challenge going on. Each week, you focus all your efforts on getting one area of your home whipped into shape. Week 1 was the kitchen. Week 2 (this week) is the laundry room.

This has been a great thing for me. First, people post a lot of pictures on the Facebook page. Some are totally depressing because a lot of people have a lot nicer houses than me. We're talking spotless kitchens. And I have yet to see another one with carpet. But there are also people who are WAY worse off than me. I have clutter problems, but it's nothing compared to what I've seen there. Which is totally refreshing because it means my house is normal!

Anyway, so I followed the guidelines set forth by this challenge. Mostly. I wasn't really thorough, but I got the job done. Sure my counters aren't completely clear and I didn't deep clean the fridge, but I tossed some gross stuff out of the freezer.

It's also not just about doing it. Not for me anyway. It's about keeping it looking halfway decent ALL the time. I've gotten better about keeping up with the dishes. And wiping off the counter and stove more often. Okay, so maybe I was just lazy before. But I've made a lot of progress.

The laundry room was probably the hardest. It's the most cluttered room. I don't know how it got so bad recently. It's got a lot of my crafting stuff, my overflow of yarn, shelves of blank notebooks. Plus, you know, laundry. So today was my chance to take control of this room. I now have a big bag of trash and a big donation box. There are still some areas that need attention, but the floor is clean and my mess is under control. Again, the biggest challenge will be keeping it looking this way as the year goes on. But I'm motivated to do it.

I'm excited to continue this challenge. There's another one going on over at I Heart Planners. This one only focuses on the kitchen, but there's a different task to complete every day. Junk drawer, under the sink, fridge, etc. Another great way to focus on things you may otherwise neglect. So hop on over there and check it out if you're interested. Maybe I'll get brave and post some before and after pictures.

Friday, January 2, 2015

It doesn't really mean anything that it's a new year. "New" goals. "New" promises that you make to yourself and never follow through on. Whatever. I made some resolutions. So far, after day 2, I haven't had very good luck. But the new year is about change or some junk, right? So I've got the next few months to figure it out.

One thing I want to do is write every day. I might have better luck if I go back to the daily plan I used back when I was working. I scheduled all my evening hours with the things I needed to accomplish (like feeding the family and going to sleep), but I also worked in time to write. I stuck to it. For a while. I need to make myself more accountable. I need to have clearer goals, I think.

With that in mind, I took a little Moleskine cahier notebook that I had lying around and I titled it 2015. I wrote down some inspirational words like that Brad Paisley quote that's been floating around and some lines from TWLOHA "Welcome to Midnight" blog post. I wrote down some goals. And I'm going to write one thing from every day. It's supposed to be something good, but we'll see what happens. In high school, I did the gratitude journal where I wrote 3 things I was grateful for every day. I'd hate to even read it now :-)

Anyway, back to writing. I started something new. And I went all in for at least a week. I've since petered out a bit, but hope is not lost. And I've even incorporated some of my ideas and concepts from the abandoned NaNoWriMo post. So it wasn't a total waste of time. Hopefully this new thing won't be, either. I think it's pretty good, so far.

I'm one of those people that's influenced a lot by my dreams at night. I've gotten a lot of ideas and inspiration that way. This one came about when I dreamt of a guy from high school. It's the same guy that inspired the original idea for RURAL ROUTE. Even if it turned into a completely different story. That sometimes happens.